Peer Mediation

Guide to Peer Mediation

Conflicts are a normal and inevitable part of our lives. Students are bound to have conflicts with peers over the course of their school careers. But it isn't inevitable that these conflicts have to be unproductive, ruin relationships, take time away from academics, or lead to violence. A peer mediation program is an effective way for schools to decrease violence and empower students to better deal with the difficult situations they experience at school, and later as members of society.

Peer mediation is a voluntary process in which a student trained as a neutral third party helps other students in conflict get clear about their concerns, better understand one another, and come to a mutual agreement about how they want to handle their issues. Using conflict resolution skills and the peer mediation process, students can begin to see conflict as an opportunity for growth and learning, rather than something that fuels anger, frustration, or even violence.

Goals and Objectives of Mediation

The goal of peer mediation is to help a school become a more healthy, positive, and safe learning environment by empowering students to manage conflict, transform relationships, and enhance school climate. Program objectives can include: reducing the rates of office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions; creating a stronger sense of community by bridging differences; and instilling valuable, lifelong skills that prepare students to become productive citizens.

Specifically, peer mediation:

• Empowers students with the skills and strategies for dealing with conflict;

• Develops communication and decision-making tools that influence choices in the future and increase leadership potential;

• Helps students gain perspective and understanding of themselves, others and their issues;

• Improves school climate by building relationships;

• Reduces the alienation, disenfranchisement and powerlessness that many students
  feel;

• Builds a strong sense of cooperation within the school community in order to address disputes that interfere with learning.

A Mediator always:

1. Listens well to understand better.

2. Avoids trying to fix, tell, suggest or give advice.

3. Clarifies in order to deepen understanding by:

· Restating

· Asking open-ended questions

· Reframing

· Being silent

· Looking and listening for cues to return the power to the parties.

4. Inviting each disputant to respond to what the other has said.

5. Repeat these steps as often as necessary.

As a mediator, there are four principles one must always follow:

1. Neutrality. A mediator should treat each person equally and fairly. Mediator should not take sides, play favorites, or decide who’s right or wrong.

2. Self-determination. The principle of self-determination means that mediators will respect the parties’ right to decide for themselves how to settle their differences. As difficult as it might be, he/she should not give advice or make suggestions; rather help the parties to find out those solutions for themselves. Finally, the mediator cannot decide what the agreement will say.

3. Confidentiality. The promise of confidentiality guarantees that the mediator will not share information about what happened or what was said in mediation except with the mediation advisor. In addition, during a mediation session, he/she must not tell one person what the other person(s) said in confidence unless the permission to do so has been given.

4. Consent. Consent is the principle that people agree voluntarily to participate in mediation. They are never forced to come to mediation and they are never forced to sign an agreement.

The six steps of peer mediation

A typical peer mediation session will generally break down into six distinctive steps:

1. Parties agree to mediate

2. Parties tell their stories

3. Parties focus on interests and needs

4. Mediators work on creating win-win situations

5. Parties evaluate options

6. Parties create an agreement

The Mediation Process

Introduction

• Mediators introduce themselves to the disputants, ask for the disputants’ names, and explain the process, including confidentiality.

Sharing Perspectives

• Each disputant tells his/her story of what happened.

• Disputants share their interpretation of what happened and how the
  conflict made them feel.

Getting More Information

• Mediators ask open-ended questions to clarify and verify.

• Mediators ask, “Is there anything else that we need to know?”

Defining the Problem

• Mediators paraphrase and restate each disputant’s account.

• Mediators guide disputants to come to an agreement about what the problem really is.

Brainstorming Solutions

• Disputants brainstorm possible solutions.

• Mediators ask disputants to talk about which solutions the disputants are willing to agree on and which ones are not agreeable.

• Mediators ask disputants to talk about how each possible solution will affect the disputants’ relationship with each other.

Choosing Solutions

• Disputants decide together how they will proceed.

• Disputants come to an agreement on which solutions are the best.

• Mediators ask if the disputants are satisfied and if they need anything else from the mediation.

Closing

• Mediators thank the disputants for participating and remind them, if necessary, of confidentiality.

• Mediators mention that if the disputants need help in the future, the mediation process is always available to them.